Going from Catholic Elementary to Public high school

My daughter has gone to Catholic school since kindergarten and we had wanted to send her to Catholic high school however the cost is too much for us so we plan to send her to our town's public high school. The school is well rated, it has a great schools rating of 8 and she has friends who will be going there. However she's very upset because she had applied at Catholic high schools and got accepted and now she can't go. We told her when she applied that there was a chance she would have to attend public school but I guess she didn't think it was true. Anyway has anyone else had this happen and how did you manage it and how was the transition from a small Catholic school to a larger public school? Thanks for any advice anyone can provide me.

How about financial aid? You should contact the Catholic high school for financial information, but it maybe too late to apply for financial aid after getting accepted.

Your daughter should try public high school for one year and see if she likes it there. If not, reapply at catholic high school for grade 10 later and don't forget to apply for financial aid, so you can get a discount from tuition fee.83977

Kids aren't fans of change. Be sympathetic but firm, and see what orientation activities she can attend before the year starts. If there are games she can attend with the friends who are going there (basketball is probably in season), or other school events.

Contact the school ahead of time and see what activities they can suggest she get invovled with before she's there. Her transition will be easier if she's already attached to some of the stuff going on there.

You can explain gently that we have been living through tough times - and that you were hoping against hope (an old expression) that you and her father would be able to manage four more years of tuition but that sadly reality demands that you just can't. (does she hope to go on to college? I've known more than a few families who take their children out of tuition high schools to try to save money for college)

I've found with my own children that once they really understood we could not afford something - that we were not just being careful or being 'cheap' - as one of my children once tried to say of us - that once they understood that even as adults we don't make and have all of the money in the world - that they then came on board and wanted to help us out by making the best of it.

That you provided her with 8 years of private school is more than many families manage to do. I'm sure with the strong educational foundation that she now has she'll thrive in any school.84017

Thank you everyone for the suggestions and advice. We're going to visit the high school and we're hoping this will make her less nervous. She wants to go to college and has her eyes set on going to Columbia University. We would love for her to go there and we've explained to her that if she goes to private high school it would be almost impossible for us to send her to college especially a school like Columbia. Thanks again everyone.84049

Sign in to GreatSchools

OR

Forgot your password?

Please enter the email address associated with your account. Instructions for selecting a new password will be emailed to you.

Email address

Thank you for submitting a review

Your review has been posted to GreatSchools.

Thank you for submitting a review

Welcome to GreatSchools!

Complete your school's profile

For principals and school officials, we offer a special Enhanced School Profile (ESP) which allows you to update and add information about your school, as well as respond to reviews. If you are a school official, click Continue to start.

You must agree to continue

Yes, I am an official at this school.

Thank you for submitting a comment

Please note that it can take up to 48 hours for your comment to be posted to our site. While you're here, we'd like to invite you to fill out a
survey on your school's programs, activities, and extracurriculars. It only takes a few minutes and will help parents get a full picture of your school.

You may only compare 8 schools at a time

Your account is now active

Get started now! You have successfully registered and can now start updating your Official School Profile.
The information you provide is extremely valuable in helping parents and students learn more about your
school, so thanks for taking the time!

Your email needs to be verified

Oops! You haven't verified your email address yet.
To do so, please click on the link in the email we sent you.
Can't find the email? Click the button below to receive a new one.

Follow this school

Get timely updates for , including performance data and recently posted user reviews.

Email address

Please enter a valid email address.

Confirm email address

Emails do not match.

Sign me up for weekly grade-by-grade tips and special offers in my area. Choose grades »